Posts Tagged ‘dreams’

Wouldn’t it be great if solutions to our problems came to us from alternate universes? Places where the laws of nature may be different? Where wonderful and fascinating things occur on a regular basis?

The challenge then is to be able to remember what the heck we dreamed in the first place. I researched multiple sites but at the end of the day, Amy Cope summarized the best ways to remember dreams here. I’ll paraphrase below with a few supplements 🙂

Write the dreams down. Don’t worry about catching every aspect of the dream. Words, images, fragments, feelings, concerns associated with the dream, all are important.

Seems obvious, but make sure the journal is handy.

Avoid drinking alcohol and caffeine prior to sleep

B-Vitamins

Various herbs also increase vividness of dreams (the more vivid the better the chances of remembering them). Calea Zacatechichi is one such herb.

Set your alarm 20 minutes early. This could in theory interrupt a dream and thus make it easier to remember. However, some people get too startled when woken from a dream and they are so rattled they ‘shake loose’ the dream and forget it.

Don’t move when getting out of bed. Use gentle movements to record the dreams. Sometimes assuming the position you were in prior to waking up and closing your eyes can take you back to the images/etc. of your dream. Keep your eyes closed. Stay with the dream for a while. Meditate on the meanings.

If you don’t remember anything, think of other dreams you’d had, or common images, movies you’ve seen, anything that might provide a connection to what you just saw.

The Mindful Dreamer site has this great tip (In addition to many of the above tips): If you’ve got a problem that you need answered, write it down before going to bed. It gives you something to start with before sleep and something to pick up on when you wake up.

Dreamstudies.org has this Snooze Method for remembering dreams. It’s pretty much summarized above, but for the detailed method, check here.

Oh, and what’s the bonus I mentioned in the headline?

In addition to being more creative, if you practice the above regularly, the quality of your sleep will go up as well. 🙂